George Will's column in yesterday's Albany Times Union makes the case for discontinuing publicly funded television. Whatever favorable arguments might have existed in the US of the 1960s they are completely gone now when you have up to 500 channels available through cable or satellite. Not only is this true for the US, but it's also true for Ireland and Britain.
The EU's common sense ruling that RTE is in breech of competition rules will, with a lot of luck, be the beginning of the end of tax payer funded t.v. in Ireland. Why should anyone have to pay a tax in order to watch t.v.? The same goes for Britain and the BBC.
The proliferation of new stations and new methods of distribution make it absurd that each television-owning household should pay €152 per year (in Ireland) or £121 in Britain. The British government is even considering a tax on PC's in order to try and make the square peg license fit the round hole of technology convergence. This is asinine and counter-productive for any country that wants to be a leader in the knowledge economy.
